I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but I saw the four-hour one-film fan edit by Tolkieneditor and thought that even that could easily be shrunk to three hours, perhaps even something more like two, and be the better for it. That tells something about the amount of filler and general bloat in these movies. The other thing I noticed that even with the worst things cut out, the second half of DoS in particular stands apart in how terrible it is. Unfortunately there's no real way to get fully rid of Smaug hamming it up like a yet another B-movie villain Peter Jackson seems so fond of, but properly ruthless cuts would make the second half of DoS very short indeed while greatly reducing the cringe factor.

I can't say exactly how good I think that particular edit is, as I was busy mentally editing the edit to make it even better.

Nerdanel wrote:I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but I saw the four-hour one-film fan edit by Tolkieneditor and thought that even that could easily be shrunk to three hours, perhaps even something more like two, and be the better for it. That tells something about the amount of filler and general bloat in these movies. The other thing I noticed that even with the worst things cut out, the second half of DoS in particular stands apart in how terrible it is. Unfortunately there's no real way to get fully rid of Smaug hamming it up like a yet another B-movie villain Peter Jackson seems so fond of, but properly ruthless cuts would make the second half of DoS very short indeed while greatly reducing the cringe factor.

I can't say exactly how good I think that particular edit is, as I was busy mentally editing the edit to make it even better.

Have you seen my fan edit yet?? I got rid of all the bloat in the films. Kili getting shot with the morgul arrow?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Unnecessary love triangle?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Gandalf and his nonsense unfaithful Necromancer stuff with the made up "high fells" etc?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Battle with orcs along the river with the barrels?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Dwarves being left behind in Laketown?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Orcs and elves coming to Laketown?? DOESNT HAPPEN! The dwarves and Smaug completely stupid and unnecessary chase sequence full of messy CGI and situations that make you cringe?? DOESNT HAPPEN!There's lots more, but this is just a brief list of the things removed from the DOS. Smaug actually only ever talks to Bilbo in this film, and that is THE ONLY person he encounters throughout the entire film. That's right, sounds unbelievable?? Well just give me your gmail so I can have you watch a film that is an excellent adaptation of JRR Tolkien's wonderful novel, The Hobbit.

Nerdanel wrote:I'm not sure if this is the right thread, but I saw the four-hour one-film fan edit by Tolkieneditor and thought that even that could easily be shrunk to three hours, perhaps even something more like two, and be the better for it. That tells something about the amount of filler and general bloat in these movies. The other thing I noticed that even with the worst things cut out, the second half of DoS in particular stands apart in how terrible it is. Unfortunately there's no real way to get fully rid of Smaug hamming it up like a yet another B-movie villain Peter Jackson seems so fond of, but properly ruthless cuts would make the second half of DoS very short indeed while greatly reducing the cringe factor.

I can't say exactly how good I think that particular edit is, as I was busy mentally editing the edit to make it even better.

Have you seen my fan edit yet?? I got rid of all the bloat in the films. Kili getting shot with the morgul arrow?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Unnecessary love triangle?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Gandalf and his nonsense unfaithful Necromancer stuff with the made up "high fells" etc?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Battle with orcs along the river with the barrels?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Dwarves being left behind in Laketown?? DOESNT HAPPEN! Orcs and elves coming to Laketown?? DOESNT HAPPEN! The dwarves and Smaug completely stupid and unnecessary chase sequence full of messy CGI and situations that make you cringe?? DOESNT HAPPEN!There's lots more, but this is just a brief list of the things removed from the DOS. Smaug actually only ever talks to Bilbo in this film, and that is THE ONLY person he encounters throughout the entire film. That's right, sounds unbelievable?? Well just give me your gmail so I can have you watch a film that is an excellent adaptation of JRR Tolkien's wonderful novel, The Hobbit.

You speak the truth I will vouch for you on this having seen your edits, although I think you have cut them further since?

I have seen a 3 hour, one movie edit of the three movies, called There and Back Again - A Hobbit's Tale and it's so good! But it still needs polishing and it is being reworked by the author along with the author of the 4 hour version Tolkieneditor. They claim by April they'll be done with it. But still, there's the EE of BOTFA so we need to be patient!

Spider Spence wrote:Hey Ryerson, I'm always interested in seeing your new edits. You should have both of my emails; PM me if not.

On the edge of my seat for your first draft of Battle of Five Armies! If you do nothing else but cut Alfred, I'll be in heaven.

I haven't started making my first draft of BOTFA yet because I've been really busy with music and art and school. But I will try to start one soon. And I think you should have all the edits I have made already, I sent them to everyone on my share list. Let me know which ones you have

Spider Spence wrote:Hey Ryerson, I'm always interested in seeing your new edits. You should have both of my emails; PM me if not.

On the edge of my seat for your first draft of Battle of Five Armies! If you do nothing else but cut Alfred, I'll be in heaven.

I haven't started making my first draft of BOTFA yet because I've been really busy with music and art and school. But I will try to start one soon. And I think you should have all the edits I have made already, I sent them to everyone on my share list. Let me know which ones you have

I have your first-round edits. I'll hold off on asking for more until you get time for Bo5A.

Would you kindly send me your edits? You did before, and I watched them, and they were definitely an improvement from what Peter Jackson did, but sadly, I was a dunderhead, and I believe I deleted them on accident. My email: loraleee (at) utetribe (dot) com.

GREAT NEWS EVERYONE!!!!!! I have just finished making my 4 HOUR version of ALL THREE HOBBIT FILMS!!!! There's A TON cut from each film, and IMO it is a lot like the book. There's only one mishap, you see a small glimpse of Bard's son assisting Bard with the arrow shooting (it will take a ton of editing to cover it up, and im working on that now). It's processing right now on my google drive, and once it's done I will send it to ALL OF YOU!!! You guys are in for a real treat, and so am I, I haven't seen it all the way through yet!

Okay, I watched the opening and the ending, mostly because I was curious how it stacked up to the ThereAndBackAgain 3hr edit I watched recently. And I'll have more thoughts once I finish, but I did have one big suggestion.

Love the smooth edits. Love the cue you took from the 3hr by sequencing the prologue with the song in Bag End. Loved, also, that you DID keep the conversation about the Ring at the end, unlike the 3hr edit.

So this is a big suggestion, and I don't want to be creative for you, but I think we NEED to see Thorin take the deathblow, for closure. We also need to see Fili & Kili die, and even see Bolg die. It gives closure and shows that Thorin is redeeming himself a bit from his brat behavior. So I suggest the following:

Using the Dwarf theme--if it were me, I would replay the entire song from Bag End, including the extended theme added in this edit--add to the montage while Bilbo is knocked out. To the Eagles and Beorn add jump cuts of Fili & Kili dying, Tauriel fighting, Legolas killing Bolg and finally, a few jump cuts through Thorin's battle with Azog, in which Azog is, for all intents and purposes, just the big strong Orc who takes Thorin out. We don't need to see all the malarkey with the chain and the ice, just the final struggle in which Thorin takes the blow and then flips Azog and gets him too. Just my thoughts!

Thanks for the suggestion, and I agree. That may actually be a better suggestion than what I was thinking for when the Extended Edition comes out. I was thinking of adding in flashbacks of Throin, fili, and Kili's deaths during the funeral scene that's going to be in the extended edition, but your idea would work too.I don't think we need to show Bolg dying, because you barely see him at all in my fan edit. Also, I thought the way he died was cheesy and lame (like a lot of things from BOTFA)

And I completely removed Tauriel and Legolas as main characters. The only thing Tauriel says is a few words with Legolas and Thranduil about the spiders and "or nothing" to Kili. So there is no point in including anymore Tauriel since she is a poor fanfictional entity sloppily added to the unnecessarily bloated story. The only significant thing that Lefolas does is that he warns Gandalf and Bilbo that Bolg is coming from the North with another army.

I am so torn on Tauriel. I wanted a female character. I mean ONE female character in the whole thing--when you have daughters and you want them to love the Hobbit, it's hard to hook them without girls, and with the movie, I can't use the trick with the book where you just make Bilbo a girl.

I love that you kept "or nothing." It works well as a cheeky-dwarf moment.

But I hated that Tauriel instantly got drafted into a love triangle. I like seeing her kick butt, and in my ideal edit she'd be jump-cut in kicking butt during the Bo5A, but the whole love story would be excised. I can totally see why you cut her, though. Glad to see this was some help. Will post more feedback when I've gone through the whole thing.

RyersonSonOfRyer wrote:Has anyone seen it yet?? If so, then post your thoughts!

I watched it. I am coming from the point of never having seen the three films. I read the book a few times years ago.

Its still much too long a movie. I can't imagine watching the uncut version. There are too many captures and escapes, etc. Too many of the same devices used over and over again. i.e. a main character almost dying, Bilbo doesn't want to be there, Thorin is a jerk... Also, there are some really cheesy lines of script.

I did some edits just for the fun of it and have cut an hour already. That's not to say I've made a better edit. Just that I've made it better for me to watch I guess. There is absolutely no screen time for Legolas or the girl elf. Not only as main characters, but as any type of character. I've made Smaug attack the city and then get killed toote suite. No Stephen Fry in my edit at all. (I don't even know what he's there for.) There's no spider fight and capture in the forest, just that Bilbo goes up top and while he's there the dwarves get captured. I cut out minor spots but still tried to keep fun things for the kids. Contemplating the removal of the troll scene or at least reducing it. But that is a fun kid scene. I wish there was a way to get them ponies without having to have ANY of the bear-man side plot. I might do that by jumping directly into Mirkwood some way. No false tension at the door scene... they miss the sun, then right to Bilbo seeing the keyhole in the moonlight. Nobody leaves or drops the key. No rock monsters and the false idea that Bilbo fell and needs to be saved. Why do that? We know he's going to live. They just walk in the storm and then go in the door. No Bilbo trying to sneak away. We already get enough info that he doesn't really like being there. No "earth eaters"... why have them anyway? They show up for 5 seconds and never play a part in anything again.

Remember, I'm using your edit and don't have other things to "put back in." Kind of fun. So far, the only saving grace of this movie is Martin Freeman.

RyersonSonOfRyer wrote:Has anyone seen it yet?? If so, then post your thoughts!

I watched it. I am coming from the point of never having seen the three films. I read the book a few times years ago.

Its still much too long a movie. I can't imagine watching the uncut version. There are too many captures and escapes, etc. Too many of the same devices used over and over again. i.e. a main character almost dying, Bilbo doesn't want to be there, Thorin is a jerk... Also, there are some really cheesy lines of script.

I did some edits just for the fun of it and have cut an hour already. That's not to say I've made a better edit. Just that I've made it better for me to watch I guess. There is absolutely no screen time for Legolas or the girl elf. Not only as main characters, but as any type of character. I've made Smaug attack the city and then get killed toote suite. No Stephen Fry in my edit at all. (I don't even know what he's there for.) There's no spider fight and capture in the forest, just that Bilbo goes up top and while he's there the dwarves get captured. I cut out minor spots but still tried to keep fun things for the kids. Contemplating the removal of the troll scene or at least reducing it. But that is a fun kid scene. I wish there was a way to get them ponies without having to have ANY of the bear-man side plot. I might do that by jumping directly into Mirkwood some way. No false tension at the door scene... they miss the sun, then right to Bilbo seeing the keyhole in the moonlight. Nobody leaves or drops the key. No rock monsters and the false idea that Bilbo fell and needs to be saved. Why do that? We know he's going to live. They just walk in the storm and then go in the door. No Bilbo trying to sneak away. We already get enough info that he doesn't really like being there. No "earth eaters"... why have them anyway? They show up for 5 seconds and never play a part in anything again.

Remember, I'm using your edit and don't have other things to "put back in." Kind of fun. So far, the only saving grace of this movie is Martin Freeman.

Well...........I'm a little overwhelmed. From the looks of it, I don't think these films are for you at all, since you cut some things that were somewhat significant. This isn't a full finished version, and im still looking for reasonable ways to make the film shorter. But I'll most likely just split it into two parts or just throw an intermission halfway in like the extended LOTR films.

RyersonSonOfRyer wrote:Has anyone seen it yet?? If so, then post your thoughts!

I watched it. I am coming from the point of never having seen the three films. I read the book a few times years ago.

Its still much too long a movie. I can't imagine watching the uncut version. There are too many captures and escapes, etc. Too many of the same devices used over and over again. i.e. a main character almost dying, Bilbo doesn't want to be there, Thorin is a jerk... Also, there are some really cheesy lines of script.

I did some edits just for the fun of it and have cut an hour already. That's not to say I've made a better edit. Just that I've made it better for me to watch I guess. There is absolutely no screen time for Legolas or the girl elf. Not only as main characters, but as any type of character. I've made Smaug attack the city and then get killed toote suite. No Stephen Fry in my edit at all. (I don't even know what he's there for.) There's no spider fight and capture in the forest, just that Bilbo goes up top and while he's there the dwarves get captured. I cut out minor spots but still tried to keep fun things for the kids. Contemplating the removal of the troll scene or at least reducing it. But that is a fun kid scene. I wish there was a way to get them ponies without having to have ANY of the bear-man side plot. I might do that by jumping directly into Mirkwood some way. No false tension at the door scene... they miss the sun, then right to Bilbo seeing the keyhole in the moonlight. Nobody leaves or drops the key. No rock monsters and the false idea that Bilbo fell and needs to be saved. Why do that? We know he's going to live. They just walk in the storm and then go in the door. No Bilbo trying to sneak away. We already get enough info that he doesn't really like being there. No "earth eaters"... why have them anyway? They show up for 5 seconds and never play a part in anything again.

Remember, I'm using your edit and don't have other things to "put back in." Kind of fun. So far, the only saving grace of this movie is Martin Freeman.

Well...........I'm a little overwhelmed. From the looks of it, I don't think these films are for you at all, since you cut some things that were somewhat significant. This isn't a full finished version, and im still looking for reasonable ways to make the film shorter. But I'll most likely just split it into two parts or just throw an intermission halfway in like the extended LOTR films.

No need to be overwhelmed. It's just another edit. And no, these films aren't for me, that's why I'm editing it! And I thank you for making your version available so I can give it a shot.

I think your idea of making it into two films makes sense, especially if you want to keep all the action pieces. The major action piece I cut was the spiders in Mirkwood and that seemed to work ok. I had to put back in more of Smaug and the destruction of the city as I cut too much. I don't know what other things you mean that are significant that I cut. It was pretty easy to cut Legolas and the elf girl without much fuss.

I tried a version with cutting the troll scene... not sure about that. Its a fun scene and shows Bilbo's first bit of bravery and quick thinking. Things are pretty dull since there is then no action at all until they get captured by the goblins. That's a long wait. So right now it is at 2 hours and 30 minutes. Not too bad. I'll watch it again later to see how it flows.

I can't remember, but whatever became of the Arkenstone? In your version it's journey ends up with the elf and the dragon-slayer. Does it ever show up again?